Ethics+&+Privacy

toc = ** Introduction to PLN's: Challenge 2 ** = ** Design a list of social media guidelines for your school and post these in the discussion forum. If your school already has social media guidelines, evaluate them and share your thoughts in the forum. ** Use the readings below to support your guidelines.

Ethics & Policies
Before you use your PLN tools, it is important to know the rules and regulations in online environments. When you use social media and web 2.0 tools, the information you post is permanent. There are two problems that you may face. First, you may not ever want to post on Facebook, write a blog, or tweet because you might fear how others will respond to your posts. Second, you may make a mistake when posting (see "Facebook and Privacy: Fired for Beer Photos"). For the first problem, browse various social media and web 2.0 sites and see what educators post. This will give you an idea of what is acceptable. Also, understand that what you have to share is important and others can learn from you as much as you can learn from them. PLN's are a two-way conversation. Try something simple for your first post (i.e., "Trying Twitter for the first time, any suggestions?") and then build your confidence as you add posts over time.

Making mistakes happens (that's how we learn!). Before you start posting, see if your school has any social media policies/guidelines (if it does not, maybe offer to help create them). If you do post something that stirs up trouble, quickly take it down, apologize, and move on (don't just ignore it). You don't want your supervisor calling you into the office to discuss something you've posted online.

Privacy
Facebook allows you to change your privacy settings to determine who sees what (read Facebook and Your Privacy). Unfortunately, many of the social media tools discussed in this e-course do not have privacy settings. Anything you post becomes public. You can set a blog to be private and only those with access can read it. However, your tweets, posts on Edmodo, and comments on blogs are all in the public arena (where anyone can take what you say out of context or use what you say in a court of law). So be aware of the tools you use and what privacy settings they have (if any).

Digital Reputation
Another thing to keep in mind is your digital reputation (or digital footprint). A digital reputation is your online presence (i.e., the information and resources that you have shared and that others have shared about you on the Internet). Employers often search your name on Google or Yahoo! before deciding whether to hire you. Students may also check out your digital reputation, so make sure that it is professional. Here is a helpful site to guide you in building your digital reputation: @https://sites.google.com/site/mydigitalrep/

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**Readings**
Here are some good articles and websites to help you learn more about social media policies, guidelines, and role modeling digital citizenship for your students:
 * 6 Tips for Teachers on Social Media
 * How to Create Social Media Guidelines
 * The Teacher's Guide to Social Media
 * [[image:http://www.wikispaces.com/i/mime/32/application/pdf.png link="file:edpln/Facebook for School Counselors Guide.pdf"]] [[file:edpln/Facebook for School Counselors Guide.pdf|Facebook for School Counselors Guide.pdf]]
 * Creating Social Media Guidelines for Educators
 * How to Create Social Media Guidelines for Your School
 * NYC Department of Education Social Media Guidelines
 * Social Media: Guidelines for School Administrators

Discussion Forum
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